1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to data access network (e.g., Internet and/or Intranet) systems. More particularly, this invention relates to a management system for accessing selective management data from a number of independently administered data service systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid growth of the Internet, widespread use of the World Wide Web, and a trend toward deployment of broadband residential networks have led to the development of new services such as interactive shopping, home banking, and electronic commerce. These services are federated since the underlying service components (e.g., network, applications, etc.) span multiple independently administered control domains.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art data access network system 10. The data access network system 10 can be, for example, an Internet or Intranet system. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the data access network system 10 typically includes a data service system 13 which is typically an Internet/Intranet service provider (ISP) system. The data access network system 10 also includes remote Internet and Intranet systems 14-15 connected to the data service system 13. Each of the systems 13-15 is an independently administered system when each of the Internet and Intranet systems 14 and 15 may include a number of independently administered systems. The system administrator of one such system does not know the structure and configuration of another system.
The data service system 13 provides Internet or Intranet service to its user terminals (e.g., user terminal 11) via an interconnect network 12. The data service system 13 typically includes a number of functional servers, such as proxy servers, web servers, news servers, domain name servers, etc. (e.g., servers 13a though 13n in FIG. 2). Subscribers connect directly to the data service system 13 from their user terminals (e.g., personal computers, Macintoshes, Web terminals, etc.) via the interconnect network 12. The data service system 13 typically employs the Internet Protocol (IP) for data communication to and from various servers, as well as with the remote systems 14 and 15. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) operates above the IP layer and ensures reliable delivery of information to the content servers in the systems 13-15. The application protocols that operate above the TCP layer are specific to the applications being accessed by the subscribers. For example, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used for file transfers and the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) is used for web accesses.
When the data service system 13 tries to grow or expand its services, it may be necessary or desirable for the data service system 13 to outsource some of the services it provides. For example, it may be desirable for the data service system 13 to outsource its web services to another data service system (e.g., the data service system 18 in FIG. 2). There are a number of advantages for the data service system 13 to outsource its services. First, the data service system 13 can be maintained at a desirable size. Secondly, the data service system 13 can increase its services without increasing its system resources and maintenance. In addition, the data service system 13 can concentrate on other services while the data service system 18 can try to best perform the outsourced services. This allows each of the data service systems 13 and 18 to provide its own specialty while the user can receive the best of the two systems.
The federated system, however, causes problems in service and system management and maintenance because each data service system within the federated system is independently administered and the entire system spans multiple independently administered control domains. The system administrator of one control domain is not able to access another control domain to detect problems in that control domain, or to measure service performance of the other data service system unless the system administrator is given access to the other control domain. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 2, because each of the data service systems 13 and 18 is an independently administered system, the data service system 13 cannot have the service performance information of the data service system 18 unless the data service system 13 is given access to the resources of the data service system 18. Providing complete access to service system 18 may be undesirable to the system administrator of the data service system 18 as the data service system 18 may contain technology or trade secrets that the system administrator of the data service system 18 does not want to disclose to the data service system 13.
Existing management tools such as Openview from Hewlett-Packard Co., Tivoli from IBM Co., and Unicenter from Computer Associates Co. may be used in each of the data service systems. These tools do not permit partial access to management information in the independently administered data service systems in the federated system. Moreover, it is also difficult for the users of the federated system to validate that their service provider is meeting its obligations in the federated system. This thus makes it difficult to provide effective customer support for, for example, the data service system 13.